Newbies first salt tank.

[Soiled]

So the other day I was wandering through a LFS, and me and came across a former display tank that the store had on clearance, a Red Sea Max 130D, selling 'as is', at almost 10% of the cost of a new one. As I've been wanting to do a saltwater setup for years now, ever since I started with freshwater tanks, I pretty much had no choice in the matter, and took the thing home.

My experience background - 55g freshwater tank, planted, mainly cichlids over the years, but haven't run in for the last two years.

Less relevant to this place, but maybe of interest... I currently keep a pacman frog, a crested gecko in a large fully planted enclosure, two tarantulas, a Brazilian rainbow boa, a red tail boa, a ball python, a pueblan milk snake, and a greyhound... Seems excessive when typed out!



Anyways, I've looked over everything, and set it up, and it looks like at this point the heater, and 1 of the pumps is missing, so I'm currently looking into what I should replace them with.

My current questions -

I've seen that you can purchase replacement pumps, with around twice the flow rate, is this worthwhile?

Any suggestions on a heater that works well with this system?

My current interest with the limited amount of research I've done, is mainly centred on corals, and I've always been fascinated with shrimp and other crustaceans.

With my interests in mind, any good resources for a shopping list of what else I'm going to have to get, and what I should be reading up on?


Current list is pretty basic, just focused on being able to get water in and turn everything on to ensure its in good condition.

Pump
Heater
Replacement lights, as 1 was burnt out, and the others probably overused at this point.



Thanks for any advice you might have, and I'll throw up some pictures as things progress, when there's something worthwhile to photograph.

 

[DaveK]

SW systems, especially reef systems where you want corals, work a bit differently from FW systems.

I have posted this before, but it's the best advice I can give someone new to the hobby.

DaveK's Standard Lecture #1 – Advice for people new to the hobby

The very first thing you want to do, before you spend any money on equipment or livestock, is get yourself a few good books on state of the art reef systems. Then read and study them, so you have some idea about what your are doing.

Here are two to start with -

The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert Fenner

The New Marine Aquarium by Michael Paleta <---This book has an especially good section on fish suited to someone starting off in the hobby.

This is information that you can not easily obtain from the net. While it's out there, it's all over the place, and there is a massive volume of information. There is also a lot of bad information out there.

Once you get that done, plan or rethink your system. What do you want to keep? Do you have the necessary equipment? Do you have the knowledge to keep the livestock you want? Do you have the time to dedicate to keeping a system and it's livestock?

Many salt water fish, corals and inverts often have very specific requirements. Some are extremely difficult to keep alive, even if you do everything right. Before you get anything, research it, and be sure it will work out in your system.

Lastly, you will find that most LFS people are clueless when it comes to SW systems. Verify their advice, until they prove otherwise.

Now to answer your specific questions -

The replacement pump is well worth it, but you don't need to do that up front.

Yes, you'll likely want to replace all the bulbs. You could upgrade to LED lighting, but it's costly and it can be done anytime. Consider that once you know you r in for the long haul.

Corals are great, but you'll find there are a lot of different species, with different requirements. To some extent, the ones you want will drive the additional equipment you will want.

First read up on what you plan to keep. It would be easy to fill several pages with additional equipment you could spend money on. Here are a few things to think about.

You'll need at least some basic test kits, and a way to measure SG (Specific Gravity). I highly recommend a refractometer for this.

You'll need high quality water for corals. If your going to make your own SW, and most people do, I recommend you give serious consideration to a RO/DI unit, so you start with pure water.

If your in doubt about anything post a question here, and you'll get good opinions. They may not agree, but at least you'll know what your options are.

Don't be in a rush to get the tank going. Stock it slowly and carefully, only after it's cycled.

 

[Keno]

+1 with DaveK

My first SW reef tank was a used RSM130, I learned a lot with that tank. Not sure if you know anyone local that has SW reef tanks. I had a friend that helped me with my first tank. First thing he did, was give me a stack of books and magazines to read. I must have asked thousands of questions, we are still friends, so I guess he didn't mind. I have since moved, but I still send him text messages asking questions.

Red Sea has a pump upgrade for the RSM130 from the 2 pumps to a single pump. It was free at one time, not sure if it is free or not anymore.

 

[Keno]

Found the Red Sea link for the pump upgrade

http://www.redseafish.com/max-concept/max-130d/max-130d-circulation-pump-upgrade-kit/

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

to ReefSanctuary, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members

Start a tank thread & share your tank with us so we can follow along, we love pics

Checkout this link
http://shop.mediabaskets.com/Red-Sea-Max-130-130D_c38.htm

 

[GirlyGirl101]

Welcome! I'm new and still have lots of questions about everything and one of the best things you can do is read, read, read. I have many books and it's good to compare them, what one leaves out another might cover. Also, this forum is like a good friend, no matter how many questions you ask they are still here for you. Enjoy and congratulations on your new tank!

 

[Soiled]

Thanks for the information. I've purchased an electronic version of The New Marine Aquarium, and have read about 3/4 of it now, though it seems like the sort that'll have to be re-read again later, once my personal knowledge base is built up more.

Unfortunately I don't know anyone who is involved with this hobby, which would probably go a fair ways towards explaining why it took over 10 years of thinking about it, to finally start towards getting one up and running.

No worries on me being in a rush to get this thing going. Its going to be a month or two of just gathering up the equiptment and supplies, before I can probably even put some water in the tank, let alone getting all the live rock, or inhabitants.

I'll probably place an online order this weekend for a refractometer, water test kit, and replacement lights. After that I think its just salt mix, the replacement pump and a heater, before I can look into at last throwing some water in it.

 

[Lipman]

"Unfortunately I don't know anyone who is involved with this hobby, which would probably go a fair ways towards explaining why it took over 10 years of thinking about it, to finally start towards getting one up and running."

I was in the same boat. its been about 2 years now with my tank and wouldn't turn back for a second. Only regret is that it took me about 10 years to finally start my SW tank.... Oh and I still dont know anyone involved in this hobby personally lol!

best of luck and welcome.

 

[Soiled]

Wow, almost 3 months already. Tanks been up and running since around the 20th of August.

Pretty minimally stocked so far, approximately a dozen snails of various types, a dozen blue/red legged hermit crabs and a Halloween crab.
I Have also added two blue/yellow chromis, though one ended up dying within a couple days.

There is also 4 coral frags added, two types of zoa, a hammer, and another I cant honestly remember the name of, another soft one though.

The algae explosion seems to finally be winding down, went through nearly two months of ridiculous amounts of long green hair algae, as well as a brown carpeting one.

I don't yet have all the water test kits I believe would be needed, probably still need at least calcium and magnesium?

Currently just somewhat concerned about the Ph from my latest test results.

Ph 7.6
Kh 9dKh 3.2Meq/L
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0

From what I've read everything but the Ph is right where I would want it, with the Ph being a bit low, 7.3 being the danger area.

What if anything should I be doing to raise that up?

 

[Marty.h]

Have you got good surface agitation as that will have a big impact on PH you want good surface agitation